Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-20
4 LION TAMER.
He Tells How to Train Wild
Beasts.
AS {. Rule Drink Kills the Kings OF the
PfOfession--GeOrge WOmbweII's "Suc-
@essful" Dog and Lien

Fight.
81 see by the papers that the lions
have had Berdel, the lion king, in
France at last. SIR" said an old man
with gray hair and unmistakabie gran
ger appearance, to the Herald man in
Che rotunda of the Palmer House the
other day, "Well, 1 thought it would
come to that at last. They'll do it
sooner or later. The bottle does it, sir
A man may be as bold and as sober as
he pleases till he gets once torn and
thea his nerve begins to fail. Any
MAS would if he had half the flesh
tori off his sides-and then he wants
n dram or two to steady him. Ohe
drir leads to another, and so on, I'M
til he gets reckless, allows the worst of
the lot on which, if he were sober, he
would know be ought to keep his eye,
get lodging round behind him, or hits
a beas- in which he ought to know q
blow will rouse sleeping devil, or
makes a stagger and goes down, and
then tie lot are onto him"
lyon speak as if you knew some
Nhing of the business" said the Hert,td
@lan. ''Were you ever a lion king?'i
"No, sir; can't say as L ever was a
Vion king, I never had the pluck Cor
that, but I've been in the business all
the same and used to work ,inder this
same Lion King Berdel as has been
savaged. My names Wolfe, Henry
Wolfe, and I've bit of farm now out
Peoria ways. I've quit the lion bust
ness many year, but L knew it we'll"
''Will you tell the Herald something
about lions?''
g l am an Englishman by birth, and
was Il tanner by trade, but times was
Gard and l fell out of a job. A travel
ing menagerie came along and they
wanted II man to help the lion king,
handing him in his properties when
performing, and such like, and
SO 1 took the job. Well, by and
by they got me to go into the
gage, buto great Scott! didn't 1
funk, ard there never was a day that 1
had to 90 in among the devils that l
didn't try a rough big of II prayer to
drive away the nervousness. Then
&puna that brandy took Che shine out
of the prayers and I used always to
have . tidy drop inside OF me before
Y went in. knew the risk of the
Brandy. Didn't l get 4his tear. down
&hy hand one evening when bail taken
so much that l didn't see that old lion
ess creeping around to my back? Still
/ went on drinking, and then at last
got the delirium tremens, and then, in
stead of seem snakes saw lions and
tigers. Sometimes it was the Royal
Be9gal as was a-catchin" of me, and
sometimes it was the big Nubian, but
they were always there, and when l
came out of that boat l never went into
tae cage again.
Three kinds of lions come to this
country and Europe, and the biggest
European importer is Jamrach The
lions come from the Cape and some
Nubia, and another sort come from
Senegal. You get them from Jamrach
well nigh as wild as the day they were
caught. for l believe he never allows
any of his men to 90 into the cages,
and if he wants to shift them he places
one cage alongside another and drives
them in by placing straw in the den he
wants them to quit. The tiger is not
so sullen i'll confinement, but is more
treacherous, and when he once loses
command of himself there is not a pin
to choose between him and the lion. l
think | would sooner. on the whole,
have truck with the lion than the tiger.
Some people will tell you that there is
no vice about either Boshi It's all
very well to say that when he puts his
claws into you in a playful way that
you ought to have presence of mind
and keep still and he will take them
,out. But when you feel the claws 60
ing into YOU an inch or more, YOU can
not help dragging the limb away.
Then the beast drags his way. and
You get torn AND the Blood comes, and
tho animal, partly at the sight of blood
and partly in fit of desperation, as I've
knows he has done wrong. takes hold
anyhow, and the. others in the cage
catch the infection-and then YOU can
say your prayers The most dangerous
time to interfere is when they are feed
ing, especially if they are gnawing
bone 1t is pretty neaP certain death. !
for a man to go near an old lion or
lioness when either is gnawing 81 bone
and try to take it away fronthem. The
1ion-tamer likes to get his beasts as
more easily brought into order, al
though no doubt there are, many in
STANCES when a full-growin forest lion
thas been trained to high perfection.